Brokerage

Home prices in Montreal continued to grow as sales reached new heights last month, according to the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board. The median price of a single-family home in the market increased by 7% on a year-over-year basis in December, reaching $327,450. Meanwhile, the median price of plexes grew by 8% during the same time frame to settle at $525,000, and that of condos by 3% to $272,863. These coincided with the market’s achievement of a new home sales record for December, growing...

The federal government announced the completion of recent housing projects in the indigenous community of Webequie First Nation in Ontario. Bob Naulat, MP for Kenora, on behalf of the Jane Philpott, Minister of Indigenous Services, joined Chief Cornelius Wabasse and the community of Webequie First Nation to celebrate the completion of several recent housing projects. These include 14 new modular homes, two new four-plexes, five single-family homes, and renovations to 14 existing homes. The...

Calgary’s housing market has fared fairly well despite record-low oil prices that have plagued the country’s energy sector in recent months, according to real estate firm Royal LePage. “Calgary [has been] remarkably resilient in one way,” Phil Soper, the president and chief executive officer of Royal LePage told BNN Bloomberg in an interview Friday, noting prices are about 10 per cent off their 2014 peak. In its latest home price survey released Friday, Royal LePage said all cities in Alberta...

Ahead of the Bank of Canada’s first policy meeting of the year, scheduled for next week, Capital Economics is back at it again. The notoriously bearish economic research firm is predicting, once more, that the central bank will slash interest rates this year. It’s the exact opposite of what most observers are calling for. “For now, as we expect the Bank’s forecasts to be… more upbeat than our own, we would not be surprised if the Bank of Canada continues to argue that it needs to raise...

10- ROYAL WEDDING CTV London bureau correspondent Daniele Hamamdjian kicks off the top 10 countdown on Dec. 23, with a look back at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s extraordinary wedding. Hamamdjian reflects on the spectacle that attracted millions of viewers, the star-studded ceremony and the drama surrounding the former actress’s family. 9- TORONTO HOMICIDES This has been an especially deadly year in Toronto, with the city notching more than 90 homicides so far amidst a spate of brazen...

Toronto landlords with vacant units could enjoy as much as an 11% hike in rent next year. That’s according to Rentals.ca’s National Rent Report, which only studied empty units and also forecasted that rents nationwide would increase 6% in 2019. Ben Myers, president of Bullpen Research & Consulting Inc., notes that the breakdown in Toronto is pretty evenly split between purpose-built rental apartments, which skew older, and newer condominium rental units. He also says that Toronto...

But evidence mounts that demand-side measures are ineffective. Ontario has done yet another somersault on rent control regulations. Premier Doug Ford’s government recently reversed the stringent rent control regulations that were enforced last year by the Liberals. Under the revised regulations, new or previously unoccupied rental units will no longer be subject to rent control. Existing tenants in purpose-built or private rentals will continue to be protected. The change in regulation...

The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) has provided a few Holiday goodies and “lumps of coal” just in time for the Holidays! As this is an electronic Bulletin you have access to the documents by clicking on the underlined links. We have bolded some significant changes below. There are important changes to the Rules of Procedure, forms, and two Interpretation Guidelines: Guideline 6: Tenant Rights and Guideline 12: Eviction for Personal Use, Demolition, Repairs and Conversion. Here are...

Building as many homes as possible, as cheaply as possible, could seem like the best way to create affordable housing. But, like with most things, you get what you pay for. Spending money up front to create energy-efficient buildings with lower maintenance and operating costs is a better approach. Developers like Hamilton-based Indwell believe that low-energy design and construction are the smart way to build affordable housing. “It’s actually quite doable to reduce energy use and get a better...

Today, December 12, 2018, Chair Spencer Chandra Herbert and his fellow task force members released their Rental Housing Task Force recommendations as they pertain to the Residential Tenancy Act. The Task Force completed their consideration of the various submission they received and research they conducted and put forth their recommendations to the Premier and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing today. The recommendations are generally balanced and largely represent a modernizing of...